Braided sling



sept. 2s, 1948.

D. S. ROBBINS BRAIDED sLING 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Feb. 19, 194s Iig. 1.

Jig. 2. Iig. 5.

D. S. ROBBINS BRAIDED sLING ,sept. 2s, 1948.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 19, 1948 czwo 5. Robb/f2s Patented Sept. 28, 194g BRAIDED SLING David S. Robbins,

The American Steel an Hamden, Conn., assgnor to d Wire Company of New Jersey, a corporation of New Jersey Application February 19, 1948, Serial No. 9,409

Claims.

This invention relates to a braided sling and is a. continuation-in-part of my copending application, Serial No. 687,462, filed July 31, 1946.

It is an object of my invention to provide a braided woven rope sling made of endless units having the splices for the endless units divided between the two eyes thereof.

Another object is to provide such a sling in which the endless units vary in length.

These and other objects will be more apparent after referring to the following specification and attached drawings, in which:

Figure l is a diagrammatic view illustrating the positions of the ropes during the first step of the method;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view showing the ropes of Figure 1 braided together;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic View showing the second right lay rope being woven into the assembly of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the second left lay rope being woven into the assembly of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a view showing the braided woven sling assembled with the splices formed' in the endless units;

Figure 6 is an enlarged view of the splice;

Figure '7 is a View of one of the eyes with a thimble in place; and

Figure 8 is a sectional View taken on the line VIII-VIII of Figure 7.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the reference numeral 2 indicates a pin around which one right lay and one left lay ropes are passed in the first step of my method. The ropes are arranged in a V-shape with one leg of the V having a right lay rope 4 and a left lay rope 6, while the other leg has a right lay rope 8 and a left lay rope Ill as shown in Figure 1. The pin 2 is located at the apex of the V to hold the ropes while braiding, but it is preferable to use a thimble in place of the pin since the thimble makes a better loop than the pin. During braiding the thimble is securely held in the splicers vice. It will be understood that the showing in Figure 1 is merely schematic and the ropes will all bear against the pin 2 or the thimble. With the ropes in this position they are ready to be braided together. In braiding, one operator takes left lay rope B in his left hand and left lay rope I0 in his right hand While the other operator takes right lay rope Il in his left hand and right lay rope 8 in his right hand. Operator #l then passes his ropes back and forth in a vertical plane keeping rope 6 to the left of rope Ill for every reversal or vice versa, and operator #2 passes his ropes back and forth in a horizontal plane keeping rope 4 on top of rope 8 for every reversal or vice versa. This makes a four-part sling I6 having the loose ends of all ropes located opposite the pin 2 as shown in Figure 2.

The elements of the braided structure I6 are opened up in the body portion sufficiently to enable one end of a second right lay rope I2 of substantially the same length as the first right lay rope to be Woven in through the braided four-part sling I6. In this operation, one leg of right lay rope I2 is woven on top of leg of the first right lay rope and the other leg of rope I2 is woven on the bottom of leg Il! of the first right lay rope. This operation is shown in Figure 3, the broken lines showing the position of right lay rope I2 before completion of the Weaving operation. It has been found then when both legs are run on the top or on the bottom they will come out with a twisty loop, but by having one leg of rope I2 on top and the other leg on the bottom of the corresponding legs of the first right lay rope as described, it is possible to form a straight loop when splicing. A second left lay rope I4 is then woven in a similar manner into the assembly of Figure 3 with one leg of the second left lay rope on top of one leg of the first left lay rope and the other leg of the second left lay rope on the bottom of the other leg of the first left lay rope. This operation is shown in Figure 4. The ropes I2 and I4 are moved completely through the body portion of the sling and extend therethrough a distance sufficient to form an eye. When the weaving is completed the open elements of the ropes are bent into a loop and the ends of each rope are double spliced to form endless units. At this time the sling is substantially completed and, as shown in Figure 5, consists of a body portion I8 and two eye portions 2li with each eye portion having two splices 22 therein, one splice being in a left lay rope and one in a right lay rope. Prior to making the double splices, the twist that is created in the ropes during the braiding and weaving operation is permitted to run out. I have found that the ropes travel a different distance during the braiding and weaving operations so that in order to equalize the stress among the various ropes it is necessary to make them dierent lengths. Since it is difficult before braiding to determine which of the ropes will be longer in the completed sling, it is most eiiicient to start with all four ropes of the same length and either out off the necessary amount after the weaving is completed or make the splices of different lengths. Thus, after the ropes are made endless, some of the endless units will have a dilerent circumferential length than other of the endless units. In other words, if the rope of each of the endless units in a completed sling were cut transversely, the sling disassembled, and each of the ropes laid out in a straight line, some of ropes would be longer than others. If desired, a single splice may be used in place of a double splice, but a double splice is preferable since it gives higher breaking efciency and only requires approximately two times the lay whereas the length of rope required for a short endless splice is about six to eight times the lay. Thus, with a short single splice it is practically impossible to have all of the splice in the eye portion of the sling, which is desirable in order to give maximum strength to the sling.

The method of making the double splice is shown in Figure 6. In splicing the rope ends A and B together, a band wire 24 is fastened around the ropes A and B and the individual strands of rope A are taken apart and spliced into the adjacent portion of rope B. A second band wire 26, spaced from wire 24 toward the end of rope B, is also fastened around ropes A and B. The distance between the band wires 24 and 25 is kept at a minimum in order to reduce the length of the splice. The end of rope B is then taken apart and the individual strands spliced into the adjacent portion of rope A.

After the ropes are spliced together, the ropes in the eye portions 29 are arranged substantially parallel and are served together preferably by means of a seven-wire strand 2l. A thimble 28 is inserted into the eye portion 20 and strips of steel 30 are welded to the thimble to prevent it from falling out. It will be seen that the completed sling consists of a body portion I8 with an eye portion 2U at each end thereof, the body portion being formed of two parts of substantially parallel right lay ropes and two parts of substantially parallel left lay ropes braided together and each of the eye portions 20 being formed of two left and two right lay ropes.

While one embodiment of my invention has been shown and described it will be apparent that other adaptations and modications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A sling comprising four endless units forniing a body portion and two eye portions, two of said units being made of left lay rope and the other two of right lay rope, said body portion being formed of two pairs of substantially parallel right lay ropes and two pairs of substantially parallel left lay ropes braided together, each of said eye portions being formed of two left and two right lay ropes, and a splice for one left lay rope and a splice for one right lay rope located in each eye portion, some of the endless units being of diiTerent lengths than other of the endless units so as to equalize the stress among the various ropes.

2. A sling comprising an even number of endless units forming a body portion and an eye portion, half of said units being made of left lay rope and the other half of right lay rope, said body portion being formed of an equal number of left and right lay ropes braided together, said eye portion being formed of an equal number of left and right lay ropes, and some of the endless units being of diierent lengths than other of the endless units so as to equalize the stress among the Various ropes.

3. A sling comprising an even number of endless units forming a body portion and two eye portions, half of said units being made of left lay rope and the other half of right lay rope, said body portion being formed of an equal number of left and right lay ropes braided together, each of said eye portions being formed of lan equal number of left and right lay ropes, and some of I, the endless units being of different lengths than other of the endless units so as to equalize the stress among the various ropes.

4. A sling according to claim 3 in which the splices for the endless units are equally divided t between the two eye portions.

5. A sling comprising a number of endless units forming a body portion and an eye portion, each of said units being made of rope, said body portion being formed of said ropes raided together, and some of the endless units being of diierent lengths than other of the endless units so as to equalize the stress among the various ropes.

DAVID S. ROBBINS.

No references cited. 

